Best Friends
by Kishiro Kitsune
Summary: AU. Oneshot. As one who has grown up with Axel and Reno, Roxas knows firsthand the dangers of fire. For a school project Roxas writes about his relationship with the two redhaired brothers.


Best Friends

Summary: AU. One-shot. As one who has grown up with Axel and Reno, Roxas knows first hand the dangers of fire. For a school project Roxas writes about his relationship with the two red-haired brothers.

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy VIII.

_**Edited 2/8/07**_

* * *

Roxas sits at his desk, wondering what the point of writing a paper on the topic "My Best Friend" is. What if someone had more than one best friend? Who would they write about then? Surely they couldn't just choose one and not write about the other? But then again it'd be difficult to write about all of your best friends if it gets to the point where it's more than two or three.

All these thoughts swirl around in Roxas's brain as he tries to think of how to start the paper. Eventually he grumbles something and switches on his radio, letting the music wash away his thoughts so he can concentrate better.

For a few minutes he sits and listens to the music, not really thinking about anything in particular. Then he gets an idea of how to start.

_Growing up with the Firehaven brothers, I've learned firsthand the dangers of fire and explosive devices. Particularly when it's in the hands of one of the two and sharp, pointy objects come into play._

"So far so good." Roxas mumbles to himself. "One paragraph down, a whole page worth of paragraphs left."

"You should have started it earlier." Sora, Roxas's twin brother, comments. "Then you wouldn't be struggling to finish it in one night." He just smiles and continues past the door when Roxas glares at him. "I'll be with Cloud."

Roxas rolls his eyes and goes back to trying to concentrate on his paper. Giving up on trying to think of what to write, he just starts writing what comes to him and promises himself to go over it later and do corrections.

For a while only the scratching of a pencil is heard, along with the occasional sound of the pencil breaking and Roxas softly cursing. The blonde then just chooses a new pencil and continues on with his writing. In the end, he winds up rewriting the beginning.

_When I first began this paper, all I thought about what which one of my best friends I would write about. And then my mind drifted on to other things that all centered around writing this paper but didn't go along with it. In the end I decided to write about my two best friends Reno and Axel Firehaven._

_People always ask me, "How can you stand to be around the two?" or "How it is that they're you're best friends?" Part of the reason is that Axel is relentless when it comes to someone he likes. Reno just got dragged along for the ride and in the end he was the one to befriend me first._

_While Reno is on the lazy side and enjoys cracking jokes and flirting with a cousin of mine _(1), _Axel is loud and extremely active. He's always doing something, whether it will land him in trouble or not. Both of them are like walking fire hazards._

_Which is why I know first hand the dangers of fire and explosive devices. And the danger only increases when sharp, pointy objects or metal rods become involved, but that's a different story._

_I could go on for pages (not that I'd want to) about how Reno and Axel are my best friends and still no one would understand. Even if I went on and told all the stories about the times we've spent together, people still wouldn't understand. But the point of this project is to "describe your best friend" and the best way to describe Reno and Axel is by writing out one of the many incidents we've been through._

_Back when Axel and I were in 5th grade, which means Reno was in 7th grade, we came up with this idea that we could jump off the roof with an umbrella and fly. And by "we" I mean Axel._

_Naturally, the idea evolved until rocket launchers became involved (do not even ask) along with parachutes made of sheets. The parachutes were my idea, the rocket launchers were Reno and Axel's idea. Personally, I think Reno and Axel just wanted something relating to fire and explosives in the plan. It's their "comfort zone" or something._

_So we got up early on morning on a Saturday and after Axel got to watch his favorite Saturday morning cartoon the three of us went up onto the roof of the Firehaven house with our supplies and began setting up. And of course my brother, Sora, and his own best friend, Riku, somehow found out about our plans and came to stop us. They brought along our parents and that was enough for Reno and I to drop the idea and take the safe way off the roof via the window. Axel on the other hand…_

_Axel ended up with a broken leg and a sprained wrist. And all three of us were grounded for a month for trying something so stupid. Of course, we got to see each other at school and I would sneak out through my window and climb through the branches of the old oak tree between our houses to go through the window of Axel's room._

_That basically sums up our friendship. Axel takes unnecessary risks and I end up taking care of him when plans go wrong and Reno tends to back out of plans last minute when it looks like the ending won't be pleasant for himself._

_There's no easy way to explain why they're my best friends, so I'll leave my paper at this._

_Roxas Strife_

Roxas sighs and sets down his pencil, wondering if the last sentence was necessary or not and whether or not he should do more editing. _"_They are never going to read this." He tells himself. "I would never hear the end of it."

"Roxas," Sora says from the doorway. "Axel's on the phone. He says that it's important."

Roxas rolls his eyes and gets up from his chair. He stretches out his arms and flexes his fingers to bring back feeling into them after the writing he has done and then he leaves the room to go answer the phone that's in the hallway. "Hello, Axel."

"_Roxy! Just who I wanted to talk to!" _Axel says happily.

Roxas sighs, recognizing the tone Axel is using all too well. "What have you done this time?"

"_Nothing! Well… okay, it's not nothing." _Axel laughs nervously. _"I need you to go in my room and find an old shoebox--"_

"Axel you had better not be in jail!" Roxas yells.

There is a pause on the other end of the line. _"Well… it's not exactly jail. Anyway, I need you to go get my screwdriver. Or maybe the crowbar would be better…"_

"_Axel what have you done?!" _Roxas growls angrily.

Axel laughs, this time for real. "Actually, I haven't done anything. Unless you count throwing Demyx's sitar out the window because he played it too loud. So, can you come over and hang out?"

Roxas hangs up the phone without even bothering to reply. "I hate him."

"No you don't." Sora speaks up, sounding amused.

Roxas looks over at his twin and glares when he sees that Sora is holding his report while leaning against the doorframe to their room. "Sora, you better not have read that."

Sora grins, not afraid at all of the tone his twin is using. "Actually I did. And I think it's sweet. Although I would have put in how you all first met instead of the whole roof incident."

Roxas's glare intensifies and then he storms past Sora, snatching the report from the brunette's hands. He then pushes said brunette out of the way, and shuts and locks the bedroom door.

"Roxas! Let me in! It's my room too!" Sora yells through the door.

Roxas ignores him and sets his paper back down on his desk. With a sigh, Roxas sits back down in his chair and closes his eyes. "Riku is a horrible influence on him." He grumbles. "The stupid pervert." He lays his head down on the desk, hoping for a moment of peace.

Moments later the sound of music playing can be heard over Sora's yelling and Roxas lifts his head up and cracks open his eyes just enough that he can see out the window.

Standing out in the yard are Demyx, who has his recovered sitar, and Axel who is trying to sing. And since Axel's singing sounds like a drugged alley cat with a sore throat meowing at three in the morning, "attempt" would be a better word. Reno's out there as well, looking for all the world like he wants to kill Axel to get him to shut up.

Roxas rolls his eyes and gets back up so he can go stop the two before the neighbors call the police because the two are disrupting the peace- again. That and Riku would blame him if Sora goes hoarse from screaming at him. Not that Roxas cares, it's just Riku gets even more annoying than usual when he gets mad at him.

He smirks when he opens the door and Sora falls face-first into the carpet. Stepping past his twin he goes downstairs and to the back door, making sure to grab an old soccer ball to throw at Axel before he goes outside. Roxas is all too used to having to make Axel shut up. He sort of has to know how to shut the red-head up.

He slings the soccer ball in Axel's direction and smirks when it collides with his head and Axel almost falls over. Demyx laughs and stops playing his sitar and Reno silently cheers, happy that Roxas got his brother to shut up.

From there things proceed as they normally do, with Axel coming up with some "brilliant plan" and talks Reno, Roxas, and Demyx into going along with it, only to have them all get in trouble. This time Axel's plan gets them all grounded.

As Roxas crawls into bed that night he grumbles, "Some best friend." But it's with a small smile on his face.

* * *

The End.

* * *

(1) The "cousin" I'm referring to is an OC of mine who is in 'Eye of the Storm'. Her name is Skylar.

Shiro: Alright, I had to come back and fix a few things that I noticed were a little off. There was one sentence fragment up there somewhere and it bugged me so I fixed it. Also, I changed Roxas's last name from 'Hikari' to 'Strife'. That was it fits in better with the sequel. That's right, I said sequel. I just don't know when said sequel will be finished, although I can tell you a little about it. It's called 'More Than Best Friends' and not everyone is going to want to read it... The sequel will actually have pairings and they'll be Axel/Roxas and Riku/Sora. And maybe something like Reno and Demyx fighting over Sora and Roxas's cousin. So here's the summary I'll be using:

_AU. Two-shot. Sequel to Best Friends, but can stand alone. Roxas and Sora notice slight changes in Axel's and Riku's behavior after the reading of the 'best friend' reports in class and are determined to figure out what it is._

It should be fun once I actually get excited about working on it. I've already got it planned out, too. At least, I have the first chapter planned out. Time to go now! Ja ne!


End file.
